Beckett. Przewodnik
A Samuel Beckett Handbook

Author(s): Stanley E. Gontarski
Contributor(s): Michał Lachman (Editor), Piotr Szymor (Translator)
Subject(s): Literary Texts, Studies of Literature
Published by: Wydawnictwo Uniwersytetu Łódzkiego
Keywords: Samuel Beckett; British drama; theatre of the absurd; post-war drama; theatre performance
Summary/Abstract: Stanley Gontarski’s A Samuel Beckett Handbook offers a thorough and comprehensive introduction to dramatic writings of Samuel Beckett. The analytical part is divided into two sections: the first one covers major plays (Eleutheria, Waiting for Godot, Endgame, Krapp’s Last Tape, Happy Days), the second concerns shorter plays. This analytical material is accompanied with very inspiring and thorough presentations of Beckett’s work for the theatre, his directorial style and his writings for film. The interpretative part of the book is preceded with Beckett timeline, presenting major dates and turning points both in his private life and artistic career. This complex approach to Beckett’s dramatic and theatre art makes A Samuel Beckett Handbook into a very useful and scholarly introduction to the writings of the Irish author. An added asset of the publication is the fact that Gontarski extensively uses various available archives and Beckett’s manuscripts, which opens an entirely new perspective on our understanding of canonical works by the author of Waiting for Godot. In its overall view, A Samuel Beckett Handbook also connects Beckett’s writing with the tradition of European art and literature, showing his oeuvre as a continuity but also as innovation within the canon.

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